Dejital Wars
by Shinji Shazaki
Summary: "End Episode 1: To Be Continued In Episode 2."
1. A Search to Begin

Dejital Wars Episode 1

C1: A Search To Begin

[A/N: Bad Lucas!  You made me have weird ideas!  Ah, shazbit.  Oh well.  Enjoy,]

[Disclaimer: Lucas and his boys own the original stuff, but I own the new, modified stuff I type down.  Don't steal and don't sue.]

"So tell me, young Gennai.  Are you prepared to embark upon your quest?"

"Yes, master Pixiemon.  I'm ready.  But are you entirely sure that there are—"

"Thirteen, there are.  Most are on different planets, they are.  Yep, yep.  Now, go.  We need these young knights, we do."

The brown-haired Gennai pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly.  He started away from the Deji Council, heading out the door and towards the spaceport of the capitol city of the planet of Thurinien.  It was going to be a very, very long time before he arrived back upon the planet.

"First on my list is a boy named Yagami Taichi and his sister Hikari." Gennai murmured to himself, tapping the semi-solid holographic keyboard, "Only first because they're closest to Thurinien.  But at least they're close."  He typed in a few more things, coordinates mainly, and sat back, crossing his arms.  There was little to do now except wait the hour or so that awaited him.

Gennai thought over the reason for his quest.  The Darkness of the Digital was starting to gain strength again.  Even without their legendary Dark Knight from two hundred years ago, the Darkness was rising in new Virus Lords and demon learners.

However, two hundred years ago, after the supposed defeat of the Darkness, many of the Deji Knights left the order.  There didn't seem to be much of reason for the Deji to remain together.

And the past two hundred years was the time the Darkness needed to gain their feet again.  Virus Lords appeared rapidly, frighteningly so, and were beginning to bring down chaos on the universe once more.

A search had begun for new Deji Knights.  The Deji Council had found the children that were most powerfully in-tune with the Digital and sent Gennai out to collect them.

Gennai leaned his head back and shut his eyes.  Almost immediately, he was asleep.

_Destination: Junray.  Time: Arrived.  Destination: Junray.  Time: Arrived._

Gennai jerked awake, snorting in surprise.  The computer bleeped the arrival message over and over until the Deji Master smacked his fist against the confirmation button on the holo-board.  He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked over the planet in his viewscreen.  It looked rather normal, like our Earth would look, but with a bit more of silver to signify the cities, and some brown for deserts.  Clouds swirled over the water and land, the perfect white clouds were.

Gennai flicked on the communications and requested a landing port.  He waited only a few moments before the confirmation came back, and started down onto the planet.

"Let me see." he murmured as the landing started through the planet's atmosphere, reading through the profile data, "'Taichi has very bushy brown hair and wears large goggles on his forehead.  He is rarely seen without his younger sister, Hikari.  She also has brown hair, but it lays flat.  She wears a camera, while the digimon that is often called her partner, Tailmon, wears a whistle that used to belong to Hikari.  Taichi's partner is a small orange dinosaur called Agumon.  Taichi is fourteen, and Hikari is eleven.  They currently reside in the city of Iren.'  I'm landing in Iren, so it shouldn't be that hard to find those two."

He tapped in a few final commands and felt the _Silver Sword_ touch down gently in the spaceport.  Gennai stood up and stretched, feeling a few bones pop and crack as he did.  He strode away from the controls and to the lowered deck, walking out onto Junray.  The sun was bright, the temperature warm, and a breeze went by, pulling Gennai's brown hair back.

"Do you know where the Yagami family might be?" Gennai questioned of the man running the sector of the port he had landed in.

"Nah." the man replied, typing in a few things, "But you might try the apartment region.  Most of the families in Iren live there."  Gennai thanked the man and started off towards the rest of the city.

Children were at play—schools were on break—and adults were walking the sidewalks, heading for work and other things.  Parks stood out with the noise of the screaming, laughing children, and some children were riding—some learning how to—on the HTS, or Hover Transport Small.  Two circles were placed apart from each other; just enough for the child to stand upon comfortably, and then was activated.  Energy binders latched the child's feet upon the circles and then started to hover in the air.  It moved on command by nerve pulses sent into the circles by a foot's smallest movement.

It was often used by adults, but more by children.  It had many capabilities, and was quite popular.  Some Deji had even used them in training and in battles to gain an edge on the opponent.

"Come on, Hikari, just move your foot a little!"

Gennai stopped moving and looked for the source of the spoken words.  A boy with bushy brown hair had his back to Gennai, standing on an HTS and flitting about a younger girl with the same color hair, except with a camera about her neck.

"Taichi, I can't move my foot an inch!" the girl protested, "How are you supposed to use these stupid things?"  The boy laughed and circled around the girl a few times, his loosely tied blue cloth belt flapping around.  His blue shirt was with short sleeves, ending at the elbows, and with large yellow stars on the sides of the arms, and closing over his chest like a large V, finally stopping just below his waist and falling over brown shorts that stopped at the knee.  His shoes were normal cloth boots, white and sagging around his ankles, but bound snugly to the HTS.

"Just twitch your big toe forwards a tiny bit." the boy said, combing his brown hair with his big hand, raising his hands behind his head.  The girl nervously tried, and jolted forwards abruptly.  She shrieked in shock, and the boy roared with laughter, zipping all around on his HTS.  The girl screeched that it wasn't funny, her pink tunic-tee-shirt closed over a skin-tight white shirt that ended at her wrists.  It was tied tightly with a pink belt and closed over reddish-pink shorts with white cloth boots pulled up properly.

"Come on, Hikari!" a Tailmon called from the ground, "Just relax.  If you're tense, it'll be much harder!"

"Yeah!" an Agumon next to the cat agreed, "Just stop worrying and try!"

"Oh be quiet!" the girl cried, but was laughing at the same time.  The four started laughing, and Gennai strode over, clearing his throat.  All four looked his way and gave him a questioning look.

"Pardon me." Gennai said politely, "Are you two Taichi and Hikari Yagami?"

"Yeah." the boy replied, crossing his arms and looking peeved, "What's it to you?  We haven't done anything wrong."

"I'm simply here to find you." Gennai answered, "You two are to be Deji Knights."

Taichi fell flat off his HTS.

"You see, Mrs. Yagami, Taichi and Hikari have a strong connection to the Digital." Gennai explained as the children's mother placed a cup of tea in front of him, "You can see it in the relationship they have with these digimon."

"I honestly thought the silly little things had followed them home one day when they were little, so I let them stay." Mrs. Yagami smiled, sitting across the square white-glass table from the Deji Knight, "But really, Deji Knights…I never expected it."

"I was sent by the Deji Council on Thurinien to retrieve thirteen children that would help rebuild the Deji Order." Gennai explained further, "Your Taichi and Hikari are two of the children.  I assume you want to discuss this with your husband and children before—"

"Do you two want to be Deji?" Mrs. Yagami turned to her children with a smile, "Or do you want to stay here?"

"Deji!" the two brown-haired kids cried in unison.  Their digimon partners shouted in unison as well in assent.

"They'll go with you then." Mrs. Yagami smiled at Gennai.  Gennai stared back rather blankly.

"Ah, Mrs. Yagami, this is a huge task not to be taken lightly." he said, stunned, "Your husband should be notified of this and you should talk—"

"Oh, but he's off on a different planet for a business meeting." she replied, "And it's really their choice.  I can't choose their path, and if they want to go after the dream they've had ever since hearing of the Deji, I'm not going to stop them.  How about you?"

Gennai blinked a few times, still in shock.  It was strange that a parent would so willingly let their children choose such a dangerous path.  But the woman spoke true.  It was the children's choice, not hers.  And so it seemed Gennai had his first initiates to the Deji Order.

He smiled back at Mrs. Yagami and shook her hand in agreement.

"So what's Thurinien like?" Taichi asked as the five—three humans, two digimon—made their way towards the spaceport, "Is it true that there isn't any organic life except the people living there?"

"Yes." Gennai nodded, "It turned into one giant city, and now it's the capitol of the Republic, and the home of the Deji Council.  But we won't be going there right away.  We have to get the other eleven children."

"Wait a sec!" Taichi snapped, lugging his rucksack over his shoulder and grunting, "Eleven others!  We've got to go to eleven other planets?"

"No." Gennai sighed, "Some of them live on the same planet because they're siblings, like you and Hikari.  But most of them do live on different planets, yes."

"Ah, crud." Taichi muttered, kicking a rock aside as they entered the dusty spaceport.

"That was fast." the same man was at the controls as before, "And I see you picked up some souvenirs."  Gennai, Hikari, and the digimon laughed as Taichi made a face, pulling down an eyelid and waggling his tongue.

"So where are we headed next?" Taichi spun around in one of the five chairs in the main control room, "Some weird place way out in an asteroid belt?"

"Actually, we're going to a planet about five hours away." Gennai tapped in the new coordinates and hit the confirm, "It's called Icae.  It's the planet of eternal light and ice."

He paused when he heard loud snoring.  Taichi had slipped to the floor and fallen asleep as he was talking.  Hikari was giggling from behind her hand.

"Does he do that much?" Gennai questioned.  Hikari nodded, still giggling.  Gennai sighed.

It was going to be a _long_ time before he saw Thurinien again.

_—to be continued—_


	2. Eternal Ice and Light

Dejital Wars Episode 1

C2: Eternal Ice and Light

[A/N: Next!]

[Disclaimer: Lucas and his boys own the original stuff, but I own the modified stuff I type down.  Don't steal and don't sue.]

Gennai watched the stars pass by for a long while, listening to Taichi and Agumon snore loudly.  He almost never realized that Hikari was gone from the main control room until he glanced up and felt the missing piece in the Digital flow.  He stood, tired of the snoring sound, and went to look.

His acute senses of the Digital led him straight to the library of the vessel.  Hikari and Tailmon were sitting in the middle of the mahogany-toned room, reading books they had tugged from the rows of shelves and mentioning facts to each other.

"Hey, Tailmon," Hikari said, "do you suppose there are lots of Virus Lords around?"

"There are." Gennai spoke up, stepping fully into the library, "But none will be a match for you thirteen Chosen Deji."

"Hi, Gennai." Hikari looked up at the man.  Tailmon giggled vaguely at the rhyming, but Gennai nodded in return.

"You don't need to worry about Virus Lords on this little journey." he explained, "No one except the Deji Council knows that I'm collecting you children."

"What's got you smiling so much, Yagami?"

Mr. Yagami turned and looked at his coworker, still smiling broadly.

"My wife called me just before we took off." he replied, "Our children are going to be trained."

"Oh?" the other man replied, "At an Imperial Institute back on Junray?"

"To be Deji." Mr. Yagami lowered his voice, but couldn't keep the excitement from his words.

"Really?" the other man's eyebrows lifted, "Would you excuse me for a moment?"  He stood from his seat and headed through the ship to the cargo bay.  He withdrew a pocket VC, or Video-Communicator, and activated it.

"General, I've news of Deji." he whispered with glee.

_Destination: Icae.  Time: Arrived.  Destination: Icae.  Time: Arrived._

"Gennai, your computer's yelling stuff!" Taichi shouted, rolling over and covering his ears, "Shut it up!"

Gennai, Hikari, and Tailmon walked into the main control room, carefully stepping over Taichi and Agumon, and sat down.

"So who are we looking for on Icae?" Hikari questioned after Gennai had requested permission to land.

"Two brothers." Gennai answered, "Ishida Yamato and Takaishi Takeru.  I don't think they'll be living together because their parents are divorced.  However, Yamato and Takeru like being with each other.  Their partners are Patamon and Gabumon.  Both boys have blond hair and blue eyes.  The way to tell them apart is Takeru has a fisherman's cap, and Yamato is a musician.  I hope we can find them quickly."

"What if they aren't together?" Taichi sat up and rubbed his brown eyes, "I mean, what if they're in different places in…where are we going exactly?"

"The boys live in the city of Rime." the Deji Knight replied, typing in commands when the confirm to land came, "We're landing there right now."

The temperature in the ship began to drop as they lowered through the atmosphere.  Taichi and Hikari began to shiver from the cold, but Gennai was trained to deal, and the digimon didn't feel it.

"You had better wear some different clothes." Gennai said without looking, "There's a storage room back from this room and to the right.  But I advise you hurry.  We're almost there."

"Oy, there!" the man that was running the port called, "You'll be freezing your feet if you walk around in those boots!  Take those HTS units over there, and don't stand in the snow for very long if you like your feet!"

The three humans took the HTS units and Taichi and Hikari carried their digimon in their arms.  As they exited the large spaceport, the group was met with a cold breeze.  Snow was falling gently, and everything was covered in snow and ice.  The buildings themselves seemed to be formed from ice, large stalagmites rising from the ground.

Lights glinted from inside the ice-buildings, and very faintly, shapes could be seen to move.

"It would be far easier to search for these two boys if we all split up." Gennai murmured, "I will search out their parents, and you two will look for the boys.  Taichi, you look for Yamato, and Hikari, you look for Takeru.  Remember what they look like, who their partners are, and I'll contact you on the com-links I gave you.  May the Digital be with you."  He flew off on the HTS, heading for the ice-buildings.  Taichi and Hikari nodded to each other and went in opposite directions.

"So they're on Icae then."

"Yes sir.  By your command, I'm sending probe droids to see if it's actually Gennai.  We'll have news shortly."

The holographic transmission ended, and the first speaker turned to look out to the stars.

"You are searching for Deji, are you, Gennai?" he questioned to nothingness, his red and yellow eyes scanning the horizon of space and stars, "How interesting that you are."  He took a long, slow draw of red wine from a snifter, smiling maliciously.

He laughed wickedly.

"Man, I hate you, Agumon." Taichi said, his teeth chattering, "You get to have fire in you, and I'm freezing my hair off."

"Come on, Taichi!" the orange dinosaur said, "We need to find Yamato, like Gennai said!"  Taichi sneezed hard and sniffed wearily.

"Yeah, yeah." the human muttered ruefully, "I bet he's just a stuck-up loser that can't tell anything apart from the stick up his butt."

"Taichi!"

"What?  What?"

"Excuse me, but do you know a boy named Takaishi Takeru?" Hikari questioned the small boy playing with his friends.

"Yeah, but he's not here." the little boy replied, packing a snowball in his gloved hands, "He likes playing with us, but he didn't come today."

"Where might he be?" Hikari questioned further, Tailmon curled around her neck.

"Well, he likes hanging out by the ice river." the boy answered, "He and Patamon are always down there."

"Thank you." Hikari smiled at the boy.  She turned, nearly falling over, and started away.  The boy nodded and chucked the snowball at one of his friends.

"All right, so I've managed to track down their parents." Gennai muttered, "And they happen to live right next to each other.  Must have been the boys' doing.  Oh well."

He raised both hands, and knocked sharply on the two doors.  They opened at the same moment, and two people answered, "Yes?" at the same moment.

"Hello, Mr. Ishida, and Ms. Takaishi." he greeted them both with smiles, "My name is Gennai, and this is about your sons."

"OK, so this Yamato guy likes to play music." Taichi said, looking about the snowy region, "Maybe he's at some sort of concert place or something."

There was a sudden splat as a snowball smacked Taichi in the back of the head.  He spun to hang upside, looking around rapidly.

"Oh, sorry, man!" a blond boy rushed up to him, running through the ankle-deep snow, "I thought you were Gabumon!"

"Yamato!" a lizard-wolf hopped over a snow bank, "What did you hit?"

"Some guy!" the blond boy called back, "Listen, I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to hit you."

Taichi stared angrily, but the HTS had too much strain from him and Agumon's weight, and the energy binders stopped working.  The two collapsed into the snow, and Taichi leapt back up into the air immediately, screaming with rage—and the fact that snow had gone straight up his shirt and pants.

"GET IT OUT!" he screamed, dancing about, "GET IT THE HELL OUT!"  He clapped his clothes, trying to move the snow out.

"Here!" the blond hurried over to Taichi and tugged at his shirt.  The snow plopped out, but there was more snow to be found in Taichi's pants.  Taichi kicked each leg furiously, and snow flew in every direction.

"F-f-f-freezing…" he hopped up and down, teeth chattering hard.

"Cripes!" the blond boy said, rubbing the back of his head, "I'm really, really sorry!  It's my fault!"

Taichi rubbed his arms, trying to keep his feet from going numb by leaping up and down.  The boy grabbed Taichi around the waist and lifted him just enough so he wasn't touching the snow.

"Gabumon, get the guy's HTS!" the blond boy said, "I'm not holding him forever!"

The Gabumon hurried and set the HTS back up.  The boy set Taichi down carefully, and the HTS lifted from the ground.  Taichi still shivered a bit, but was better.

"I'm really sorry about that." the boy bowed, looking rather embarrassed, "My name's Ishida Yamato, and this is my buddy, Gabumon.  Who are you?"

Taichi blinked, his shivering stopping.  Yamato…  Ah, yes.

"Name's Yagami Taichi, and you're the one I've been looking for!" he cried.

The snow was still falling when Hikari and Tailmon arrived at the ice-river.  It was completely ice, just separated from the snowy ground, and a small waterfall was frozen in the most interesting fashion.  It was beautiful, how the water had frozen in the shape of its spray.  A blond boy with a fisherman's cap was sitting on a rock by the top of the waterfall, petting a Patamon that was sleeping in his lap.

His blue eyes spotted Hikari as she moved closer on the HTS, and he waved in greeting.

"Hello." he said as she came close enough to step onto the rock off of the HTS, "I haven't seen you around here before."

"My name is Yagami Hikari." Hikari placed a hand on her chest with a smile, "This is my friend, Tailmon.  We're from the planet, Junray, and…well, what's your name?"

"I'm Takaishi Takeru." the boy smiled back, "This little bum is Patamon.  So what is a person from a sunny planet like you doing on this ice ball?"

"You're Takeru?" Hikari pointed a finger at him, smiling even more, "It seems I've found you."

"Our boys are going to Deji?" Mr. Ishida questioned.

"With their consent, of course." Gennai murmured.

"It's obvious that they should be." Ms. Takaishi said in a soft voice, "Takeru has always had a deep connection to everything, and Yamato always was able to do anything his mind was set to."

There was a sharp crackling noise from the com-link around Gennai's neck.

"Gennai, I found Yamato!" Taichi's voice emerged from the link, "Where should we go?"

"Gennai, Takeru is with me." Hikari's voice also came from the link, "Where should we meet?"

"Tell the boys to take you to their homes." Gennai flicked on both sides of the link, "I'll be here."

"So that's four down, nine to go?" Taichi questioned as they all headed for the spaceport.

Takeru and Yamato had agreed immediately when told of their situation.  They both wanted to become Deji, and they wanted to help the Deji get rid of the Darkness.

"Yes." Gennai murmured, "We're going to—"  He stopped moving completely, his eyes slowly moving from side to side.  The four children and digimon looked back at Gennai, about to ask what was the matter.

In a flash, Gennai had drawn and activated his shining silver lightsaber and spun about on the HTS, slashing hard.  A small black machine that was hovering a few feet behind them was cut in half, and the acrid scent of burnt metal and scorched wiring filled the snowy air.

"Probe droid." the Deji Knight muttered thoughtfully, "Why is it following us, though?  No one's supposed to know I'm looking for you…"

He whipped around again and gestured to move quickly to the spaceport.  The children and digimon followed fast, and they were soon inside the _Silver Sword_.

"Damn." Gennai sighed, sitting in the main control room, hand over his mouth, "Damn.  I never expected this to happen."

"What's wrong?" Takeru asked, Patamon lounging on his head.

"Someone knows." Gennai answered, "Someone knows I'm searching for Deji, and they're trying to track me and get an idea of who I'm looking for."

He let out a sigh and started to punch in commands.  Taichi and Yamato flopped down into two other chairs but Takeru and Hikari remained standing.

"We would have had to make a long HJ to reach the next planet anyway." Gennai said, his hands flying over the keyboard, "But I think we had better make a few short ones to keep our movements secret."

"HJ?" Patamon looked down at Takeru in question.

"Hyperspace Jump." Takeru replied, "So if we keep our time in hyperspace short, we can't be tracked, right?"

"That's correct." the Deji Knight answered, "I'll tell you where we are at each stop so you'll know, but you two had better sit down and strap in.  HJ traveling isn't that fun when you stand up at takeoff."  He typed the last commands in as Takeru and Hikari sat and strapped up.

"To the planet Cycron, then." Gennai pulled one last lever.  The stars in the viewscreen began stretching, and then the surroundings turned white with their speed.

They were off.

_—to be continued—_


	3. A Meeting of the Minds

Dejital Wars Episode One

C3: A Meeting of the Minds

[A/N: Enjoy then.  The ending will be very funny, or evil if you're a bit of a prude.]

[Disclaimer: Lucas and his boys own 'Star Wars' and TOEI and the rest own 'Digimon'.  I own the modified stuff I write down, though.  Don't steal and don't sue.]

"So who's up now?" Takeru questioned as they sped through hyperspace, "On Cycron, I mean."

"Three young men." Gennai answered, "Kido Jyou, Izumi Koushiro, and Ichijouji Ken.  By the Digital, I'm tired."

"Why's that?" Hikari questioned.

"I haven't slept since before landing on Junray." he groaned, "And I know I need to sleep."

"Well, why not let Hikari and I search for Jyou, Koushiro, and Ken?" Takeru offered, "We ought to be fine with Tailmon and Patamon."

"Not a chance in Hades!" Gennai snapped, "We're still being tracked, and I don't know by who."

"Gennai, we're supposed to be Deji, right?" Takeru questioned, "Then we should do things on our own to train for battles we'll have to face against the Darkness."

There was a long, steely silence that hung in the air as Gennai stared Takeru in the eye.

"You evil, manipulative, little boy." he finally concluded, "I'll let you go, but you need lightsabers along with your digimon.  Come with me."

He led them away from the control room and down the many halls in the ship.  They finally came to one room in particular.  Inside were piles of wires, crystals, and bits and pieces of metal.  However, on the long table that stretched across an entire wall, thirteen lightsabers lay waiting for their possessors to claim them.

"These two are yours." Gennai scooped two from the table and handed one to each child, "Don't activate the blades unless you need to, and when they are on, remember one thing.  The blade is only energy in concentrated form.  It weighs nothing.  Don't swing as though it were a broadsword or something ridiculous like that.  Be careful with it."

"All right, let's see." Hikari read over the data tablet, waiting on the lowered docking ramp for Takeru, "'Jyou and Koushiro are never without the other.  Jyou has glasses, black eyes, and dark blue hair.  Koushiro has black eyes, red hair, and almost always carries a personal Holo-Com from Pineapple Corp., the most popular distributor of holographic computers.  Ken is a lavender-eyed, purple-haired boy that sometimes is with Jyou and Koushiro.  Koushiro and Ken are recognized geniuses in the capital city of Iko.  Their partners are as follows: Jyou, Gomamon; Koushiro, Tentomon; Ken, Wormmon.'  Well, if they're geniuses and everyone knows them, it won't be hard to find them."

"Let's get moving, Hikari!" Takeru appeared from inside the ship, hurrying down the ramp, Patamon gripping the boy's hat for dear life.  Hikari looked over Takeru.  He had changed from the traditional long sleeved and legged gray garb of the Icae residents for gray shorts, a green-chested and yellow-long-sleeved V-close shirt, a green belt, and gray cloth boots.  The lightsaber hilt was carefully hidden beneath the belt, as was Hikari's.  Hikari smiled at Takeru.

"What?" Takeru asked, "Do I look stupid?"

"You look absolutely cute." Hikari stood up, dusting herself off and smiling more as Takeru blushed.  Patamon and Tailmon giggled and Takeru blushed more.

"Oh, come on." he said, only slightly angry, "We've got work to do!"

The group started off into the city of Iko, and seemed almost stunned when they stepped out of the spaceport.  Everything seemed…advanced.  Digimon, humans, and many droids wandered the streets, perfectly courteous.  Small children were at happy play in parks.  But the wonder of the city was in the buildings.

Monstrous things the buildings were.  Giant, towering things they were.  They reflected the sunlight into solar cells, gathering energy.  If they didn't have the cells, the sunlight glinting off would blind many people.  The silver metal and reflective glass was the perfect thing to reflect sun to blind people.

"Wow." was the only thing Patamon could say.  But the rest of the group was dumbfounded, too impressed for words.

"Um, excuse me, sir." Hikari walked up to a passing businessman, "Do you know where we might find Izumi Koushiro, Kido Jyou, and Ichijouji Ken?"

"Of course!" the man replied cheerfully, "They're taking a day off from work to rest at the QI Club."

"Where is that?"

"Go down the street and turn the first right.  It's a big neon sign.  You can't miss it."

"Thank you very much, sir!" Hikari said with almost pure glee in her voice.  The man just smiled and laughed, nodding.  He went off on his own business, while Hikari, Takeru, Patamon, and Tailmon went down the street.

True to the man's word, a large neon sign with "QI CLUB" flashing was around the corner.  There were no guards or bouncers, so the group just strode in.

Music was playing at a sensible level, but the club was almost empty.  Three people were sitting towards the back in a secluded booth, a light shining directly on them.  They sat around a holographic battle table, a digimon at each of their sides.

"Blast it." the blue-haired, glasses-wearing boy said, "You beat all my cards again, Koushiro."

"Well, Jyou, I am the best Digital Battle player on Cycron." the red-haired boy laughed, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, "I'm sorry about kicking your butt."

"Excuse us." Takeru walked forwards into the light, "But you three are Kido Jyou, Izumi Koushiro, and Ichijouji Ken?"

"Yes." the purple-haired boy replied, "Why do you care?"

"Well, the thing is, well…" Takeru was hesitant to say, nervous to say such a huge thing.  He giggled anxiously.

"We're a part of a group." Hikari stepped forwards, "We've been looking for you."

"Head off." Koushiro, the red-haired one, said, "We aren't going to be suckered into a stupid group that wanders around the universe trying to get more people."

"We aren't like that!" Hikari protested, "Honest!  We're here to recruit you to—"

"Aha!" Koushiro snapped, "Recruiting?  You're trying to get us into a dumb recruitment thing!"

"No!" Hikari tried to speak, "Really!  We're here to get you to be Deji!"

"Yeah right." Koushiro muttered, "Like I'll believe that."

"Wait." Jyou, the blue-haired one, spoke up, "Deji?  You're here to make us Deji?"

"We're here with the Deji Knight, Gennai." Takeru spoke now, his confidence reborn, "And we aren't trying to do what you said."

"Uh-huh." Koushiro waved a hand mockingly.

"Stop saying that!" Takeru began to move aside his belt, his eyes narrowing in anger.  Hikari put a hand over his, giving him a warning look.

"What do we have to do to convince you that we aren't trying to do something stupid like you say we are?" she asked.

"Beat me at a game of Digital Battle." Koushiro shrugged very nonchalantly, "But no one's beaten me at it for at least two years.  I'm the undisputed champion of the game on Cycron."

"Uh, Koushiro?" Ken interjected, "Not to be rude…but you really sound like a jerk.  I think we should talk about what they're saying."

"Wait." Hikari raised a hand, "If you want us to convince you, we will.  I was a pretty good Digital Battle player back in Iren."  She sat down at the opposite side of the holographic board and then blinked, as though remembering something.

"I don't have my cards with me." she said simply, putting a finger to her lip.  The rest of the gathered group sweatdropped.

"You can borrow mine." Ken pulled a deck of cards from the pocket of his gray slacks.  His clothes were immaculate gray, the long-sleeved tunic shirt, the gray belt, and the gray slacks over black cloth boots.

"Koushiro, don't be cruel!" the Tentomon from Koushiro's side squealed, "That wouldn't be nice!"

"OK, OK, Tentomon." Koushiro shook his arm free of Tentomon's claw, straightening out the long crimson sleeve of his shirt, yanking the black and crimson striped chest down through the red belt.  His pants were a faded black color, and brown toned boots adorned his feet.

"Well, shall we duel?" the red-haired boy asked, "I'll probably win."

"We'll see." Hikari smiled.

After a long, long while, Koushiro was blue in the face, and Hikari was smiling sweetly.  Koushiro had lost.  And he had lost rather hard.

"OK, so what's the deal?" he asked in a strained voice.

"We're here to get you three guys." Takeru began to explain, "We've been traveling with a man named Gennai and searching for kids that are suited to be Deji Knights against the growing Darkness.  You three are part of this group."

"I still want proof." Koushiro said as Ken and Jyou agreed.

Takeru pulled the lightsaber from his belt and showed it to the three boys and their digimon.

"Oh." Koushiro blinked, "I'll shut up now."

Everyone laughed.

"Master Piemon, should we try to destroy Gennai's ship before they leave for their next destination?"

"No.  Just leave them.  We shall destroy all of them when they try to openly fight us."

"Yes sir."

The group was making its way back to the spaceport.  Everything had been explained, and everything was ready to go.

"Gennai, we're back with Jyou, Ken, and Koushiro!" Hikari called through the ship, "Taichi!  Yamato!  We're back!"

And every single one of them blushed crimson.  Taichi was up against the wall, his shirt half off his shoulders, and Yamato's hands on his shoulders.  Yamato was in the same state of dress.  Both of them were completely red.

Takeru fainted.  Hikari stared.  Jyou and Koushiro turned away.  And Ken looked studious.

_—to be continued—_


	4. The Quiet and the Strong

Dejital Wars Episode 1

C4: The Quiet and the Strong

[A/N: I was bored with the last chapter.  I wanted it to end.  Oh well.]

[Disclaimer: "Stars Wars" is owned by Lucas and his boys and TOEI owns "Digimon".  I own whatever I write.  Don't steal and don't sue.]

_Destination: Alpha.  Time: Arrived.  Destination: Alpha.  Time: Arrived._

"Yamato, Taichi, please keep that confined to your room." Gennai sighed, "I don't want Takeru fainting at any given moment."

"Yes, Gennai." the two boys groaned in unison, "We will."

"Now that that's settled, we need to land." the Deji muttered, "We're looking for two boys this time, so we don't all have to go."

"We'll stay in our room!" Taichi and Yamato leapt to their feet and dashed off, giggling madly.

"I'd like to go." Ken offered his search, "It sounds fascinating."

"Jyou and I will take care of Takeru." Koushiro said, "He still seems pretty fried."

"I don't want to stay cooped up." Hikari smiled, "I'll go with Ken."

"That'll be fine." Gennai yawned, "More sleep for me."

As soon as they exited the spaceport, Hikari and Ken were greeted with an odd sight.  The planet barely seemed touched by human inhabitants.  Digimon walked around in the thick green grass.  The sun shone down with the time of high noon, and a soft breeze rippled the grass.  A few homes dotted the horizon, seemingly miles apart.  It was a clean planet.

"Who are we looking for?" Ken asked.

"Two boys." Hikari read the data pad, "Motomiya Daisuke, and Hida Iori.  Daisuke is eleven, and Iori is ten.  Daisuke has short, spiky brown hair and usually wears goggles on his head.  He often wears a gray-blue shirt, red belt, and brown shorts with red boots.  Iori has short brown hair as well, but his lays flat on his head.  He usually wears a beige, long sleeve shirt, gray belt, and black-brown pants and black boots.  Both are never seen without their digimon partners, V-mon and Armadimon.  I have no idea where they would be."

"Well, I could search for Daisuke." Ken suggested, "And you could look for Iori."

"Then should we come back to the ship once we find them?"

"That would work nicely.  I'll be back with Daisuke."

"I'll have Iori with me."

Hikari climbed up a low rise after a short time of walking.  A large tree sat in the center of the rise, its leaves creating shimmering patches of shadow and light.  Off to the left side, a small yellow ball was sitting all on its own.

The soon-to-be Deji child walked towards the ball, wondering what it was.  She rounded the tree, and saw a little boy sitting next to the ball, staring out at the horizon with his knees against his chest.  His emerald eyes seemed glazed.  His garb, however, seemed familiar.  Beige long shirt with a gray belt, black-brown pants, and black boots.

"Excuse me." Hikari said, "Are you Hida Iori?"

The boy didn't look up.  He put his chin on his knees, closing his eyes with a sigh.

"Excuse me?" Hikari tried again.  She reached out to tap the boy, when a yellow streak clamped onto her arm and threw her off balance, making her fall to the ground.

"Don't you be touching my pal!" a gruff voice snarled, the thing wrestling with Hikari's arm, "Don't ever!"

"Armadimon, don't!" the boy hurried to his feet and pulled the thing away, "I don't think she meant to hurt me!"

"She just wanted to talk!" Tailmon jumped into a defensive stance before Hikari, her claws bared and glinting in the light.  The yellow thing—an Armadimon—growled and bared its teeth.  Both digimon were ready to fight.

"Now that's _enough_!" Hikari shouted.  Each digimon froze, and they and the boy looked towards Hikari.  "I only wanted to talk to you.  I never said I wanted any fights.  Now, I'll ask you again.  Are you Hida Iori?"

"Why do you ask?" the boy questioned in turn, heaving the armadillo digimon into his arms.

"Well, I've been looking for you."

"Ken?  Ken?  Ken, are you listening to me?"

Ken stopped walking when a little poke to his leg registered in his brain.  He had been staring at the picture of the boy, Daisuke, from the data pad he carried with him.  His lavender eyes had been locked upon the smiling, laughing face of the boy.

"I'm sorry." Ken hastily stored the pad in his pocket, "What is it Wormmon?"

"Isn't that a V-mon over there playing with that boy?" Wormmon poked a claw in the direction of two people, a blue digimon and a be-goggled boy.

"Yes." Ken nodded, "We should see if it's Daisuke and his digimon."

As they drew closer to the pair, Ken noticed they were playing with a soccer ball, and the boy was quite excellent with handling the ball.

"OK, V-mon!" the boy cried, "Try to block this!"  His foot drew back, and the ball went flying from the kick.  The V-mon leapt up, using his head to stop the hard kick, but went down in the process.

"Ah!" the boy hurried to his fallen digimon, "V-mon, are you OK?"

"Look at all the pretty colors." V-mon groaned, his eyes twirling.  The boy laughed, a chiming sound in Ken's ears.  He went up to the boy nervously.

"Pardon me, but are you Motomiya Daisuke?" he asked.

"Yep, that's me!" the boy turned around with a giant smile, "Who are you?"

"My name is Ichijouji Ken." Ken held out his hand.  Daisuke gripped it and shook, smiling genially.  "I've been looking for you."

"Oh?" Daisuke said, letting go of Ken's hand and sitting down on the grass.  He patted a spot next to him, inviting Ken to sit with him.  "Why's that?"

"I've been traveling with a man named Gennai." Ken sank down next to Daisuke, "He's been gathering children to be Deji Knights.  You're one of the children."

"Oh, wow!" Daisuke fell to his back, looking up to the azure sky, "That's cool!  So I'd be a Deji Knight, flying all around the galaxy and fighting bad guys?"

"That's the gist of it." Ken nodded, "Do you like the idea?"

"Like it?" Daisuke sat back up quickly, raising a clenched hand with a grin, "I love it!  I've dreamt all my life of being a hero that went around and beat up bad guys!  Now I get to live it!"  Ken smiled, chuckling a little.

"What's so funny?" the brown-haired boy asked, letting his head droop to one side in question.

"You're kind of cute." Ken said, but then clapped a hand to his mouth.  It seemed too late, the damage was done.  His face flared red.  Daisuke laughed aloud.

"It's OK." Daisuke laughed, "I'm not grossed out or anything.  I think you're kind of cute too."

Ken lowered his hand and his eyes, his face turning an even darker shade of red.  He didn't want to look at Daisuke at that moment.  It seemed far too embarrassing.  Daisuke lifted his chin with a finger, forcing the unfortunate genius to look at him.

"It's funny." Daisuke smiled, his chocolate eyes closed, "We only just met, but I like you a lot already.  Funny, huh?"

"Yeah." Ken giggled sheepishly, a smile on his face, "It's pretty funny."

The two didn't say much else.  They just smiled at each other.

"So I'm going to be a Deji." Iori said in a soft voice, walking beside Hikari as she led the way back to the spaceport.

"Are you excited?" Hikari asked, smiling warmly.

"I don't know." the young boy said, his eyes locked on the ground, "I think I felt like this was going to happen."

"Part of the powers that come from the Digital is seeing what lies ahead." Hikari tried to offer a solution, "It was probably that."

"After my father died, and when my mother passed from grief, I started to feel like there was something different about me." Iori murmured, "I felt like there was something inside me that made me try to be better than I could be.  I wanted to honor my parents by becoming the best I could, and to show everyone that they were the best there was, even if they were gone.  It wasn't the Digital.  I just knew I had a destiny that involved great things."

"That's beautiful, Iori." Hikari said, her ruby eyes gleaming, "You'll be a wonderful Deji Knight."

The spaceport came into view.  Ken and Motomiya Daisuke were standing at the entrance to the port, Ken leaning against Daisuke with his head on the new child's shoulder.

Two more children, four more to go.

"We're going to the planet Biyou." Gennai said, "Three children are there, then we only have one more."

The other children seemed eager.  But…but…

No landing confirmation came when Gennai called.  No response came at all.  Gennai risked being shot down by air cannons, but nothing happened.

When each person disembarked the ship, they were greeted with the greatest of horrors.

No person remained alive on Biyou.  No creatures, no plants.  Nothing was alive.

Blood was everywhere.  A few mangled, ripped limbs lay strewn across the white-paved road.  Crushed flowers lay scattered, and everything was a picture of destruction and chaos.

"Piemon has been here."

_—to be continued—_


	5. Darkness Eternal

Dejital Wars Episode 1

C5: Darkness Eternal

[A/N: I love writing this.]

[Disclaimer: Lucas and the rest own "Star Wars" and TOEI and the rest own "Digimon".  Don't steal and don't sue.]

Gennai drummed his fingers against his thigh, reading the data on the holographic screen.  He hadn't time to read the data files on the children with all the excitement and his brief times of sleep.  Nine children were now with him—Taichi, Hikari, Yamato, Takeru, Ken, Jyou, Koushiro, Daisuke, and Iori—but there was still one to be found.

And for an odd reason, the data file was almost completely 

Age, race, gender…even the child's name wasn't in the file.  All that was in the file was that a Deji reading was marked somewhere around the planet Yaseka.

"And you're completely sure that the last person in our little group is on Yaseka." Taichi strode into the main control room and sat next to Gennai, "I can't believe it."

"It's not a sure thing that they are on Yaseka." Gennai protested, "The reading was only marked near Yaseka.  We don't know where they are."

"Why do you keep saying 'they'?" Taichi asked, "Don't you even know if they're a boy or a girl?"

"Don't even know if it's a human." Gennai rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

"Great." Taichi groaned, "That's wonderful."

Something abruptly threw both to the floor.  A rumble echoed through the ship as something groaned.

"Ouch." Daisuke groaned, rubbed his hand against his newly bruised shoulder, "What was that?"

"Felt like something hit us." Iori replied, a bit dazed from flying halfway across the room from his chair.

Another sharp strike rocked the ship and threw the children around even more.  The groans grew louder and louder and the ship began to pitch.

"Everybody grab hold of something!" Gennai and Taichi ran into the room, "We're going to crash!"

"Lord Vandemon!  We shot down the ship that you ordered us to!"

"Good.  Good.  Leave it be for a while.  We shall check on the silly Deji later."

"Much later?"

"Heh.  Yes, my dear.  Much later.  You may leave, little Impmon."

The purple digimon rushed from the room with a ruby blush on his face.  He truly hated delivering news to his master and his partner when they were in their private chambers.  Anywhere else—even the barely-used torture room—would be less painful—and embarrassing—than to their private chambers.

He truly hated it.

The soft sound of birds cawing and chirping was the first thing Gennai recognized.  He opened his eyes and closed them quickly, trying to clear the blood away.  He rubbed at a streaming cut on his forehead, pressing down to stop the flow, and sat up.

The outer hull of the _Silver Sword_ was ripped away on his left, exposing the dark outside.  Four of the children had fallen out of the ship, while five remained inside.  Everyone had a few bad bruises, but not many had bad injures.

Gennai stumbled to his feet and walked carefully around to the five children inside.  Each awoke when he coaxed them to the conscious world through the Digital, and each was scared.

"How long has it been since we were hit?" Ken asked as the group cautiously climbed down through the gaping hole in the hull.

"About three hours." Gennai consulted his small computer to see how long it truly had been.

The children outside the ship were slightly worse for wear.  Larger bruises adorned their skin, and more scrapes and nicks as well.

"I can barely see." Gennai growled irritably as he took short, slow steps, "It's like night here."

"Right you are, silly Deji!"

Gennai looked up, only to duck back down quickly as something shot over his head.  He spun about, falling to his backside, drawing a light-disc from his pocket and activating it.  The beam fell on a person.

The person shielded their face and eyes from the sharp beam of light as it appeared, but it was simple to see them.  Black cloth covered every part of their body.  Black cloth boots, black pants, black belt, a black cloth around their neck, and black long-sleeved tunic.  Their fingers were long from pale hands, one hand reaching out in front of them.  The disc was torn from Gennai's grip and flew to the person.  They crushed it with one hand.

"Don't do that again." the person snapped, "Just draw your lightsaber and set it to its lowest intensity.  It's a nice, dim, light."

Gennai put his hand inside his belt, pausing only briefly to wonder about the person, and drew his saber.  When he had activated the blade, he saw the same person standing where they had been.  Blue eyes, the color of the midnight sky, glinted with the dim light, and it shimmered off shaggy brown hair.  A human woman.

"Welcome to Yaseka." she called through the darkness, "I hope the ride down wasn't _too_ unpleasant."

"Who are you?" Gennai questioned, "What is your name?"

"Ah, formalities." she waved her hand, smirking and closing her eyes, "Those can wait.  I see you have many injured with you.  Come along.  I have a HT for you to use."

"And where would that be?" Taichi questioned, walking rather blindly around.  A clang rang out as Taichi's head smashed into something, and he fell backwards to the ground.  He rolled around, his hands over the lump on his skull.

"Well, you just ran into it." the woman replied flatly, "Just press the motor button and it'll go straight to Shadow.  Don't press any other buttons, and I'll see you there."  She lifted a hand and smirked, and vanished abruptly.

"OW!" Taichi screamed.

The darkness of Yaseka was difficult to get used to.  Gennai was almost grateful that the directions were preprogrammed into the HT (Hover-Transport), or he would have hit something.  The HT coasted to a slow stop in darkness, and Gennai began to draw his lightsaber.

Abruptly, something fell onto the HT with a loud clang.  More things fell with resounding clangs, and the children cried out as they were grabbed and pulled from the HT.  Gennai clutched his saber, but something struck him heavily on the back of his head.  Lights seemed to wink before his eyes in the darkness, and then complete black swelled up and swallowed him.

A deep, baritone chuckle reverberated in Gennai's ears.  Gennai slowly opened his eyes, trying to keep his sight in focus.

"Hello, young Deji." the deep voice said through the darkness.  Gennai blinked, and his sight finally cleared.  A flickering orange light seemed surrounded by complete darkness, but there was no sound.

"I assume you wonder where you are." the voice said from the darkness, "And what has happened to those children that you have recruited to be Deji."

"Where are they?" Gennai shouted into the shadows, jumping to his feet, "If you've harmed them—"

"No need to for such noise, Deji." the voice said, amused and irritated at the same time, "I see no purpose of hurting anyone unless they bother us."

"Who are you?" Gennai turned around and around, trying to see the source of voice, "Show yourself!"  In a flash, Gennai was blinded by brilliant light.  He covered his face with his arms, crying out in pain and cringing.  He tensed, readying himself for the attack that was sure to come.

Someone laughed.  Gennai opened his eyes, his eyebrows low on his knitted brow to protect against the harsh light.  But the light was no longer harsh; it was soft.

"Deji really are too funny for words." said the voice of the woman from before, "I believe you now."

"It was an excellent test of your skills, my dear." the deep voice rumbled, chuckling once more, "You've outdone yourself with your illusions."

Gennai dropped his arms and looked straight ahead.  A stone-crafted chair—a throne—sat before him, and in it sat the most hauntingly beautiful man he had ever seen.

Three bangs of spun-gold hair hung before pale, pale skin, and in front of midnight blue eyes.  The golden hair was trimmed, immaculate, perfectly combed, and curved behind pointed ears.  A hand, pale as the face, was curled to let the long fingers hang just against the man's face, and he leaned his face against his hand.  His clothes, although he had the air of royalty, were simple.  The cloth was the same tone as his eyes, long sleeves and legs, and the boots were crafted from hard material, showing a rather rounded shape, but two metal shapes were stamped upon them.  On the left was a skull, and on the right was a bat.  Hanging from the black belt was a long lightsaber hilt.  And as he smiled, sharp fangs glinted in the light.

"I ask you again," Gennai sighed, almost snarling, "who are you?"

"My name is Vandemon." the man said, "I am the ruler of Yaseka.  And I hope you and your young charges on the floor there have a fairly restful stay here while some of my technicians repair your ship."

Gennai could have smacked himself for being so stupid.  There were no humans on Yaseka—that woman was probably some digimon exclusive to the dark planet—so there was almost no need for names if one recognized the digimon.  Yaseka was the only planet to have an entirely digital population—and that of a viral sort.

"Are you going to wake your children, or may I feed from them?" Vandemon smiled a wicked smile, his fangs glinting even more.

Gennai jerked, moving his hand to draw his lightsaber to protect his wards.  Almost instantly after he moved his hand, something tackled him from behind and, as they both fell to the floor, the thing flipped off of him, pushing down on his shoulders hard, and landed—surprisingly—in Vandemon's lap.

The Deji Knight growled low in his throat, standing up again and rubbing his shoulders to alleviate the pain.  He looked at the person that had landed in the vampire's lap.  It was the female digimon from before.

"So who are you?" he questioned, "I never seen a digimon like you before."

"And who in the hell said that I was a digimon?" the woman questioned, "My name is Shinji."

"And I am her partner." Vandemon put a hand on the woman's hip, smirking darkly, "Her link to the Digital, and her master.  Now, you.  You and I have much to discuss."

"Hey.  Hey.  Wake up, would you?"

Iori felt a soft nudging in his side, and opened his emerald eyes.  He looked right into midnight blue eyes.

"Finally." the person—the woman from before, said, smiling, "I was bored."

"It's you again." Iori groaned, sitting up and rubbing his head, "I saw you hit Gennai over the head before I passed out."

"Well, Gennai is a bit too strong in the Digital to be knocked out with the Digital for long." the woman smiled, extending her hand to pull the ten-year-old to his feet, "You children on the other hand, aren't trained that well.  Yet."

"Why aren't the others awake?" Iori questioned, "Where'd Gennai go?"

"He's off with Vandemon." she replied, "And I don't want those others to wake up.  You seemed best to talk to.  I wonder, do you want to see the only natural light source for this planet?"

"I thought that no light even existed on Yaseka." Iori said rather sheepishly, "All the textbooks and lessons I've had said that Yaseka had no light.  Not even artificial light created by the digimon living there.  Are you a digimon?"

"Well, doesn't that seem to be the popular question to ask me today." the woman said in a flat tone, a vein throbbing on her forehead.  Iori cringed, not knowing the hell that he had unintentionally let loose.

"**_NO!  I'M NOT!_**"

"Yaseka is a much more advanced planet than you humans make it out to be." Vandemon murmured, striding through the hallways of the gigantic place everyone was in, "We have many weapons, ships capable of HJ.  We even have safer versions of things you humans have that would be lethal.  And we only have one human in our entire population of three planets."

"Three planets?" Gennai stopped, dumbfounded, "Yaseka is three planets?"

"Yaseka is technically a system of three planets, called the Yami system." replied the vampire, "The first, which we are on, is known as Yaseka.  The second is known as Dimius, and the third is Shadio.  Each has billions of digimon, but only Yaseka has one human.  I have been the Yami system's ruler for around three hundred years."

"Then you must have seen some part of the Light War two hundred years ago!" Gennai murmured in excitement, "Do you know who the Dark Knight was?  What his name was?  Or even what he looked like?"

"I only know his signature killing technique, as does most of the universe." Vandemon replied, "Blood red lightning.  That's all I know of him.  Sorry."

Gennai frowned in anger.  It seemed he had finally found a source of information that had been purged from the Archive Files in the Deji Council's home, but it wasn't to be.

_Clink.  FFT!  FFT!_

Iori tore his eyes away from the shining moon to find the woman—her name was Shinji—snapping a lighter to life with her thumb, shielding the bright orange flame from the chilly wind, and holding it up to the end of a cigarette.

"Those are disgusting." Iori said plainly, "They make people sick, and billions of people and digimon die from them."

"Not these." Shinji replied, capturing the heat with a short inhale, "The digimon on Yaseka managed to create something like your nicotine-packed sticks, but without the addiction, and without the threat of health problems.  All that these do is provide a small light source in this world of darkness.  They make great incense too!"

"Uh-huh." Iori said, thoroughly unconvinced, "Anyway, you have a beautiful moon."

"Yeah." Shinji replied, holding the cigarette between two fingers, looking up to the glowing orb of white, "Brightest moon in the universe, I think.  Better than the brightest sun, certainly."

"I wouldn't mind a sun right about now." Iori tried to smile, his teeth chattering hard as a gust of wind blew by.  Shinji curled her left arm around Iori and scooted him up next to her, tugging the black scarf slightly untied from her neck.  She lay the cloth down around Iori's shoulders, and kept her hand against his shoulder.

"Thank you." Iori said, smiling.

"I wouldn't do that for many people." Shinji murmured from the corner of her mouth, the nearly dead cigarette in the other corner of her mouth, "But you have a pretty strong connection to the Digital.  Your Digital aura speaks to mine.  I know only one other person that has such a deep connection to speak to my aura, and that is Vandemon."

"Vandemon is a Deji?" Iori inquired.

"I won't say." Shinji ground the dead cigarette in the ground to extinguish the tiny embers, obliterating it with a flash of Digital energy.  Iori looked amazed.  "But he speaks to me, and my aura like no other person—human, digimon, or anything—could speak.  He raised me from before I can remember, and he trains me to this day."

"How old are you?" the ten-year-old boy asked carefully.

"Seventeen." she answered, staring up at the moon, "Vandemon has told me many times of why I'm here."

"Why is that?"

"My parents were against the growing Imperial government even when they were children.  They worked against it, speaking out with facts about the darkness behind it.  Piemon is the force behind the Empire, and he's part of the Wicked."

"Wicked?"

"There is a difference between Darkness and Wicked in the flow of the Digital.  There is the Light, where the Deji Council on Thurinien puts its value.  The Light is hard to see, so say the many students of the Wicked.  But the Darkness…the Darkness can see the Light, as well.  The Wicked see only the eternal emptiness of evil and mistake it for Darkness.  Darkness is created by Light, and it would be futile for Darkness to try and destroy Light.  Both sides compliment each other.

"The stronger the Darkness, the more powerful the Light.  The Wicked grows with each person that gives into its evil.  I am part of the Darkness, but I don't see any reason to try and destroy the Light.  The Wicked use our title because they believe themselves to be Darkness, but it isn't so."

"So why are you on Yaseka?"

"When my mother and father married and had me, they continued to go through the civilized galaxies to speak out against the Empire.  However, the Empire—Piemon specifically—had grown very angry with them.  Piemon ordered their deaths.  They were coming out of an HJ near the Yami System—we are on the first of the three planets therein—when they were ambushed by Imperial starfighters.

"They couldn't win again them.  They were shot down, and, being very close to Yaseka, they were drawn down to crash there.  Being the dimwitted people that they are, they left us to die.  But Vandemon…oh Vandemon.  He had been on Yaseka for three hundred years waiting for a worthy student.  He was watching the moon and the stars that day, and sensed an outcry in the Digital.

"I was scared, but my parents were already dead.  The ship hit the planet, and Vandemon found the wreckage.  It was going to explode, but he heard a strong cry through the Digital.  He saved me, and protected me from the explosion.  He decided that I would be his disciple.  And so it has been for seventeen years.  We've been preparing for the inevitable war between the Light and Darkness against the Wicked."

"Shinji?"

"Yes?"

"I want to help."

"You will.  As long as you remember that the Darkness is almost the same as the Light.  The Wicked flow is our enemy."

She paused and looked down at the young boy.  He had fallen asleep, his emerald eyes closed.  Shinji sighed, but smiled, shaking her head.

"Cute little kid." she muttered to herself, "He must need a nap."

"So, you want Shinji to go with you?"

"She obviously has the makings of a Deji." Gennai answered, "I'd like to take her back to Thurinien and train her with the other children."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't think she'd want to."

"She wouldn't want to, or you don't want her to go?"

"Both."

Gennai stopped in the doorway as Vandemon continued through to the main room where the children were finally awake.

"What do you mean?" Gennai questioned.

"Nothing at all." Vandemon murmured, "Except that the Deji Council most likely wouldn't want a student of true Darkness to be a part of their new army."

"What—how—what the?" Gennai tried to form a sentence, but every word the vampire had said came from things never spoken.

"What I mean is that Shinji is a student of Darkness." Vandemon sank down in his throne and closed his blue eyes, resting his head against his fist, "How I know about the Deji Council and its army is because I read your mind.  But you can ask her when she comes back with that child of yours."

Gennai blinked and looked around at the children that were up and rubbing their heads.  There were only eight.

"Where's Iori?" he half-shouted at the digimon, "What did you do with him?"

"He was with me." Shinji appeared at one of the many doors in the hall, "Now be quiet, or you'll wake him up."  Iori was cradled in her arms, fast asleep.

"What did you do to him?" Taichi snarled.

"I told him a story and he fell asleep." Shinji replied, walking through the hall, "Much like most any ten-year-old.  So be quiet."

Taichi had heard enough—or what he wanted to hear.  He grabbed his lightsaber and started at Shinji.  In a crimson flash, Taichi was in the air, being held upside down by a whip that was made entirely by red lightning.

"Bloody Stream." Vandemon said in a dark tone, glaring angrily at Taichi, standing from his throne, "You will not touch her.  You will get away from both of them.  Or I will make my attack much harsher.  You will die if you try to touch her."

Gennai stared on in horror.  Before him stood the legendary Knight of Darkness that was infamous across the universe.  Taichi was in the Dark Knight's death grip.

"Let him go!" Gennai rushed forwards, drawing his own silver lightsaber, "Don't dare hurt him!"

Vandemon flicked his wrist, sending Taichi flying right into Gennai.  Both flew into the hard stonewall, and Vandemon turned to glare at both.

"There is a difference between the Dark Knight of years ago, the Darkness we are, and the Wicked you fight." he murmured, "We are the Darkness that is akin to your Light.  The Wicked you fight—Piemon and his Empire—are the empty evil that tries to destroy everything.  The Dark Knight you see before you sees the link between the Light and the Darkness.  The Dark Knight from years past was unable to see the link, but now there has been an enlightenment of sorts.

"I have found my purpose.  I will fight alongside you against the Wicked and the Empire, but I am not a part of the Light.  We never will be.  Sorry that you've lost an 'ally' to your despised Darkness, but if you can put aside your misconceived thoughts, we can fight together and destroy the Wicked."

"If you aren't going to join the Light, then we have little to discuss." Gennai sighed, pulling Taichi to his feet, "Someone get Iori.  We had better leave."

"Your ship is just about ready.  You can leave." Vandemon muttered.  Gennai didn't acknowledge the vampire, but instead strode to Shinji and started to pull Iori from her arms.

"Let go." Iori said groggily, "I don't want to go."

"Iori, what are you talking about?" Gennai said, "We have to go."

"Shinji's my friend." Iori said, shifting to his side and taking hold of Shinji's black shirt, "I don't want to go.  I don't want to leave my friend.  Leave me alone."

"Iori, stop talking crazy!" Taichi snapped, "We're leaving!"

"No!" Iori yelled, "I'm not going!"

There was a harsh silence.  Iori stood and stared at the rest of the gathered children.

"I believe what Shinji and Vandemon say about the Darkness." he said, "And you aren't going to change my mind about staying here on Yaseka."

"Iori—"

"I said no!  I'm staying here!"

Gennai stared out into the infinite points of light.  Stars were beautiful.

He sighed, drawing himself back into the real world.  He had lost one of his children to Darkness, and one had been inside the Darkness before he had arrived.

He felt like a failure.

_—End Episode 1: To Be Continued in Episode 2—_


End file.
